1 PETER 1:13 -Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

THEME OF THE DAY. AS WE THINK SO WE LOVE AND LIVE. When you hear the word “love” what comes into your thinking? Affection? Warm feelings? Desire? It includes all those things, but more – a lot more and I don’t think the world gets it right. In my humble opinion, I think the world has hijacked the true meaning of love. Instead of it being Biblically defined, it is defined by infatuation, lust, and uncontrolled fleshly passions. But I think there is more evidence the world has redefined what love means. The chief one being the lack of “stick-to-it commitment” no matter what. Sadly, we see this in marriages – Christians and non-Christians. I often wonder when I do marriage counseling if this man and woman in front of me are going to be true to their vows – no matter what. I wonder if a few years from now I may be doing counseling with them to save their marriage, not mature it. It sometimes seems marriage is now defined by a negotiable contract with clauses and conditions instead of a lifelong covenant with God that will not be compromised because it understands the words “I love you” is a love that – bears all things, believes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). But despite all I just wrote, there is something else about love I think Christians, including this one, need to get our hands on. Love is not just a feeling. Love doesn’t act on feelings but on obedience. And love is not just that warm “gushy” emotionalism. True love as defined by the Bible begins in the mind – our thinking. Pay attention to how the Lord Jesus tells us we are to love God – And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Matthew 22:37). Get the last part – our mind. What does this mean? It means how we think determines how we love God and thus how we live.

Putting this into practical living goes like this – what we allow our minds to fix upon; what we entertain in our thoughts will determine who we love most and who we live for – ourselves and this sinful world or the Lord Jesus and His Holy Word. And this is daily “mind warfare” requiring great discipline to ensure our thinking is not being shaped by the world, but the Word. Such discipline is accomplished by two things . . .

First to have a right mind producing right thinking fixed on the Lord and His Word, we must be putting the Word deep into our minds. It is applying these words from the Apostle Paul – Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God (Colossians 3:16). Friends, our thinking is determined by what is “richly dwelling” in our minds. It will either be the world or the Word. The conclusion is this; if we are not being renewed daily by the Word in our minds then we are being controlled by the world in our minds. And as we think so we determine who we love and live for – ourselves or the Lord Jesus.

Next right thinking leading to right loving and living demands we develop a prayer life that seeks the Lord regularly. Jude writes, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life (Jude 20-21). Here is hard truth, but real truth. We can read our Bibles constantly as well as good Christian books, but the power behind all that truth renewing our minds and directing our lives is in fellowship with the Lord and knowing the strengthening of His Spirit through prayer (Ephesians 3:14-17). Unless we are cultivating a prayer life that knows the Lord, and that regularly, our minds may be full of knowledge of Him but not lives lived holy for Him by a Spirit-renewed mind.

Yes, as we think so we love and live. May God help us to develop “holy minds” that lead us to holy living for His good pleasure and our greatest good.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to be diligent in renewing my mind by Your Word so that I may live more by Your Word.”

QUOTE: “What you allow your mind to fix upon will determine who you live for – yourself or Jesus.”